Holy Cow! History: Henry’s crystal clear idea

Henry had a sharp eye. He paid close attention to what people around him were doing–and what they weren’t. One observation in the 19th century forever changed how Americans buy food products, revolutionizing the food industry and making him rich to boot.

You still use the change he introduced every time you shop at the grocery store.

And it all started with horseradish. Really.

Henry was no ordinary boy growing up in the mid-1800s with his German immigrant parents near Pittsburgh. By age 14, he was assistant manager at his father’s brickyard. When his mother grew too many vegetables in the family garden one summer, Henry quickly sold them. His parents realized their son was a budding businessman.

In 1869, he went into business with a friend selling horseradish, a condiment wildly popular among the area’s German communities. Expanding to include celery sauce, pickles, and vinegar, they called it the Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works.

Things were going well until the Panic of 1873 hit. A financial panic was much like a depression, and this one was particularly severe. The company went broke.

However, Henry was still young and optimistic. The next year, he started yet another business with his brother and their cousin. And this time, he sold something else: tomato ketchup.

If you think ketchup was a 20th-century creation to accompany french fries, you’re mistaken. Americans have been pouring it on food since Colonial times.

The new business took off. The three relatives weren’t rolling in dough, but they were making a decent living. Henry insisted they use only the freshest vegetables and prepare them in extremely clean and sanitary conditions to produce the best products.

Still, that wasn’t good enough. Henry was one of those imaginative types who always wonder, “How can we make it better? Produce it faster? Make it more affordable?”

One day he noticed something. Customers hesitated to buy ketchup because they didn’t know what they were getting. This was the time before government food inspections. The label said “ketchup,” and that was all you knew.

Early food products spoiled quickly and contained nasty additives like coal tar and sodium benzoate. Maybe the contents had gone bad; maybe they were still fresh. How did you know? Because you couldn’t see what was inside. Food was sold in brown, blue, and green glass bottles. Folks were reluctant to spend hard-earned pennies on a pig in a poke.

The problem could be overcome by using clear glass, so consumers could see exactly what they were getting. But there was a problem. Glass had to go through additional refining steps to make it clear, and that made it more expensive. So food manufacturers stuck with colored bottles to keep costs down.

But not Henry. He believed shoppers would be willing to part with an additional penny in exchange for knowing with certainty the content was fresh. So, he switched all his products to clear glass and held his breath.

The gamble worked. The change was hugely successful and put the company on the map. In 1888 Henry bought out his partners and renamed it the H. J. Heinz Company, which it’s still called today.

Not only that, the entire food industry was forced to switch to clear glass bottles and jars to stay competitive.

Henry Heinz was a marketing genius. The native of Pennsylvania (the Keystone State) fashioned his logo in the shape of a keystone. He devised the winning slogan “57 Varieties.” When he introduced it in 1896, Heinz was selling more than 60 products. But consumers responded to 57 for some reason. He told people he got it by combining 5, his lucky number, with his wife’s lucky number of 7. Privately, he said he used 7 because of its “psychological influence.” Whatever the reason, it worked.

Heinz was an innovator as well. He provided uniforms to his employees (many of them women) and insisted they be kept clean. He demanded safe working conditions in his factories and paid good wages. He even personally lobbied Congress for federal laws to make food safe for all Americans, culminating in the Pure Food and Drug Act’s passage in 1906.

Unlike other Robber Baron millionaires, Henry was a beloved figure when he died at age 74 in 1919.

Today, Heinz produces a staggering 650 million bottles of ketchup every year. And because of Henry Heinz’s crystal clear idea, you know exactly what you’re getting.

Holy Cow! History is written by novelist, former TV journalist and diehard history buff J. Mark Powell. Have a historic mystery that needs solving? A forgotten moment worth remembering? Please send it to [email protected].